Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The Complete Happenings for Songhai People & Team 2012

•Jody and Sarah Fox finished their language study & were
able to begin fulltime ministry on Road to Karma. Jody has been able to disciple believers in Boubon,
Tagabati, Karma & YK. Sarah has begun to disciple the first female believer
in Boubon.

•The believers in YK continue to meet & study the Word
& are in the early stages of forming the first church in that village.

•In a village where the chief told us we were welcome to
share but also promised us that no one would ever believe, there is now one man
who has chosen to believe & trust in Christ as His Savior.

•Again, in a village where, for centuries, no one has ever
believed on the name of the Jesus for salvation, one man has now believed; he
was lost but is now found.

•Nine national partners were trained in the E2E strategy,
the tool created & used by the Songhai team to lead a group from evangelism
to discipleship (if any in the group choose to believe) to church formation
& then to leadership training.

•Six national partners were sent out to Songhai villages to
preach the Word to those that have never heard & disciple those that
believe.

•We love our volunteers! This year 11 teams from churches in
the States were able to join us in sharing the name of Christ with the Songhai.
We were also able to host one summer volunteer.

•THIRTY EIGHT men & women chose to believe & were
baptized as they publicly professed Christ as their Savior.

•The “HUB” became a reality!! After 3 years of dreaming
& months of planning, the HUB is now underway! This central point of ministry,
located in Niamey, will be used as a launch pad for our national partners &
mature believers as well as starting new ministries in the city.

•The Niamey Leadership Training School (NLTS) hosted its
first class of 19 students who studied, in an oral learning method, Old
Testament survey for a week. This is the first oral theological training center
of its kind, that we know of, in our region.

•In June, FBC Hurst was able to distribute 500 life-saving
food kits to malnourished children along the Mehanna Road. In September, FBC
Hurst was also able to conduct a first ever garden project along the Mehanna
Road distributing 8 garden kits & 10 water purification kits.

•Three new churches/teams partnered with us on the field for
the first time in 2012: FBC in Franklin, Ky, Campbellsville University in
Campbellsville, Ky & FBC in Marlin, Tx. FBC Franklin led VBS & music
related outreach ministries. Students from the BCM at CU shared evangelism
stories in Boubon & also painted their elementary school. And FBC Marlin
discipled believers in YK while also sharing Christ in unreached areas along
Namarou Road.

•Two new churches partnered with us to commit to pray for
the Songhai: Midway Baptist Church in Wichita, KS and FBC in Scott City, MO.

•The Songhai team created its first ever Ramadan focused “30
Day Prayer Guide.” Hundreds of you agreed to fast &/ pray for the Songhai
for 30 days. We saw amazing things happen & the Lord continues to answer
the prayers that were prayed during that month!

•A group of 8 men & women in Tera were trained in E2E as
we commissioned them to reach their villages with the love & name of
Christ.

•The Songhai were spotlighted & featured in the Lottie
Moon Christmas Offering & the Week of Prayer for International Missions.
Many of you told us you saw Mark’s picture (aka: John Smythe) in bulletin
inserts or on videos promoting LMCO. We were so blessed to be included on this
& have thousands of SB churches praying for the Songhai!!

•Our prayer partner list was increased to 570 people who
have committed to pray for the Songhai each month! We are eternally grateful to
each of you who faithfully pray for the Songhai. We firmly believe in the power
of prayer & know that your continual prayers for the Songhai make an
eternal difference.

•And lastly, the Songhai team has created another “first
ever”: a 52-week devotional prayer guide/calendar. This new resource will
include 52 devotionals written by the Songhai team or one of our partners as
well as a weekly calendar for the year. It should be ready by the first of the
year, so don’t buy your 2013 calendars just yet!! Contact: Mark.If you email me or Facebook me I will give you his email address…